If you’re reading this article right now, we can imagine what is going through your mind; does Instagram notify screenshots? You may a bit worried thinking about “What if Instagram sent a notification every time I took a screenshot of someone’s picture?” It’s a terrible thought indeed. But is it true? In this article, we will talk about when does Instagram notify people and alternatively, what can you do about it.

The reason for this topic being written in this article is that lately, this is a big topic of gossip. Everyone’s been wondering and talking about if the website sends notifications or not. To clear up any doubts on this topic, let’s get into it then. Creepers unite, you will either feel better or worse at the end of this text.

Is it true Instagram notifies screenshots?

Does Instagram notify screenshots for real? Does it send a notification when you screenshot on Instagram? Do the other parties know about it when you screenshot their photos? Our simple answer to this question is no. Except for some conditions, it doesn’t. Instagram’s biggest principle is privacy. It never shares its’ owners private information with other parties. You going into their profile and taking a screenshot -even though it’s related to the person you took a screenshot of- is your own behavior. So it is about your privacy.

So because it would be a breach of privacy; no it does not send notifications to the person. You got your answer, but wait! There actually are instances where Instagram does send notifications after a screenshot. I know, you’re stressed again so I won’t keep you waiting.

When does Instagram notify screenshots?

Up above we told you Instagram doesn’t send notifications of screenshots except for some conditions. This exception is Instagram Direct Message services. Only on here, it actually does notify screenshots. Let’s say that there is someone you’ve been talking with. You want to take a screenshot of this conversation. Be very careful! When you screenshot these DMs, it sends a notification. Oh no, creep alert! It’s okay though, we’ve all been there.

Sometimes the other party sends the pictures in a way that goes away shortly after. (Wish only their posts had that attitude, right.) So naturally, you want to take a screenshot of the picture to make it immortal. But now you know it sends notifications when you do this. You may need to think twice before taking screenshots again.

Where does this notification story come from?

“Instagram notify screenshots” story is very popular lately. Because there are some claims being thrown out there, this story or gossip keeps spreading. But what is the origin of this “notification story”? Let’s get to the bottom of this.

A bit over 2 years ago from now on, in the year 2016 it has been noticed that Instagram sends notifications to people if they take a screenshot of the conversation that happens in direct messages. After this feature has been found out, people started thinking Instagram may be sending notifications after every screenshot.

The essence of this idea (or paranoia) is Snapchat. In this application, if there’s a screenshot being taken it immediately sends a notification to the story’s owner. This being the case, people thought Instagram may also be doing the same thing. But the truth is different from that. As we said, Instagram only sends notification if you take a screenshot of the direct messages. In posts or stories, there is no such thing. Even when you take a screenshot and make a post out of it, Instagram still doesn’t send a notification. I know, hooray right. Admit it, you were very afraid there for a second.

What other options do I have other than screenshotting?

Even though we just said Instagram doesn’t notify screenshots(mostly) you still may be a bit anxious. If you think you can’t risk even a small risk of them finding out that you regularly take screenshots of their photos, then there are always other less risky ways to go about it. These methods are:

Sharing

Come next to the photo you wish to save. You will see a symbol that’s consisting of three dots right by the side of the photograph. Tap on this. There will be choices here, choose “share” and then choose which social media platform you wish to share this photo on. This way, you will be sharing the photo on your own social media account. But for you to be able to do this, the other party’s account has to be open and accessible for everyone. You cannot do this with closed/private accounts.

Copying link

The same way as above, on the same screen there is a text/button that says “copy link”. Tap on this and you can copy the link to this photo same way and can share it on other applications. Especially in direct messaging apps, you can paste it directly and send it to the other party easily (same with the share option). This also applies only to open/public accounts. If the account is closed to the public, you won’t be able to get these.

Direct Messaging

Another option is to send the post you liked via direct messaging. To be able to do this, firstly find the photo or the video you wish to keep around. Just under the photograph, you will see a symbol that looks like a plane. Tap on this symbol. You will see a screen come up that’s asking you who you want to send this photo to. In here, find whoever you wish to send the photo by writing their username. After that, tap sent. Now the post/photo/vid is sent to the other party. You can open it and check it out via Direct messages. You can even tap your own username and send it to yourself. After doing so, taking a screenshot or downloading the picture won’t be a problem.

But the same things that applied to the methods above also apply here. If the account is private, other parties cannot see this. Only you can access this via DM. For them to be able to see it, the account has to be public or open to them also.

Bookmarking

The last method is saving. For the people who’re are afraid of Instagram sending notifications for screenshots, this usually is a better option. You can think of the saving method as making an archive. Come next to the photo you want to save. Tap on the bookmark icon at the right bar (far right in the picture below). Now you bookmarked the post. This will be in your saved section, along with all the other pictures you bookmarked.

You can see all the pictures you saved from your profile segment. Nobody will ever know you bookmarked their posts. But if they ever decide to delete the post, it also won’t be visible in your bookmarks.

In this article, we tried to find an answer to the question of; “Does Instagram notify screenshots“. The short answer is, mostly no. If you had any worries about this when you came to our page, we’d like to think we helped to clear those. Hope to see you in another article.